Ingmar Bergman's The Silence

Book excerpt: When The Silence was released in 1963, Bergman's stature allowed the film's depiction of sexuality to challenge the boundaries of the censorship boards in Sweden and the U.S. Yet, Swedish film critic Maaret Koskinen - one of the first scholars given access to Bergman's private papers - found his notebooks revealed his tendency to self-censorship, as well as the difficulties he experienced in writing for the medium of moving images. She draws a picture of Berman that reveals his attempts to make his work relevant to a new generation of filmgoers.